


Merely Mortal

by Foxynite



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: AU, Angst, Angsty Loki, F/M, Loki is angry at everyone including himself, Slow Burn, You're a doctor, adding tags as I go, happens sometime after the plot of Avengers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2019-10-21 19:10:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17648315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foxynite/pseuds/Foxynite
Summary: You're on your way to work when you hear a loud crash. Going to investigate, you find a strange man in a crater. He's injured, and you decide to nurse him back to health.What happens when he's actual the God of Mischief? And what about when he discovers that he's now a mortal?





	1. Chapter 1

_ Does work ever seem to end?  _ You had just finished up your shift at the hospital a couple minutes ago, and now you were just on the way home. Bundled in a jacket and scrolling through your phone, you idly ran your mind through the events of today. You were working the second shift, which was from about 12 PM to 10 PM, but of course before you could wrap up you had that one guy come in foaming at the mouth because he had chugged a bottle of soy sauce on a dare. You honestly couldn’t believe the types of idiots these days. Either way, it was nearing midnight, so you had worked about two hours past the end of your shift. Then again, that was just a small risk of being a doctor. 

 

Of course other risks came with it too. Being yelled at was definitely one of them you disliked. Then there was the whole getting various bodily fluids on you thing. You were just thankful that you didn’t have a weak stomach. 

 

You glanced at your phone once more, scrolling through some of the suggested stories that were in your feed. Nothing really caught your eye, but you still clicked on the first link you were given. It was some story about a house that had caught on fire and about how this five-year-old boy had survived it. 

 

It was an okay read to keep your mind occupied while you walked, and by the time you were done you were on the doorstep of your home. You lived in a large town in the midwest, and that meant it was probably small, and the hospital was only about a 15-minute walk away, so you took advantage of saving some gas. Not that being a doctor didn’t earn you a nice paycheck every two weeks. 

 

Of course, as you approached your doorstep, grabbing your keys from your pocket, you couldn’t help but notice the loud bang that came from the park just a block or two down. You seemed confused for a moment, your keys in the lock, ready to be turned. However, that sounded like a gunshot, or at least like something serious happened. Was it really worth checking out? Yes, yes it was.

 

With a worried glance in the direction of the sound, you slipped your keys back into your pocket and hurried down the street to see what had happened. It was a short jog, but within a few moments you were there at the park. And in the middle of the field, there was a shallow crater.  _ Is that a body? What the hell happened?  _ You dropped your purse and rushed over to the man laying inside.

 

He was wearing some sort of leather armor, something that you expect cosplayers to wear, like at a comic con or maybe even LARPing, but this was neither of those events, so why was he wearing it? His hair was dark and long and was unkempt, falling across his face and splayed out around him. Leaning closer, you could see a serious of injuries across his face. A rather nasty looking bruise on his cheek that had also developed a black eye.

 

Your hand reached forward to press against the sensitive skin, trying to see if his zygomatic process had been broken or anything. You put some gentle pressure on the wound, and the strange man stirred a little, but he did not wake.  _ He must be exhausted.  _ Drawing your hand away, you knew that there was sure to be more injuries across his body, especially if it was the impact of his body that had caused this crater. 

 

“Well, looks like you’re coming with me, big guy.” He was certainly bigger than you, but all the same you still crouched down above him, grabbing his upper body and propping him up on your shoulder before you heaved. If it wasn’t for all those gym classes, you were sure you would’ve collapsed. However, he was slung over your shoulder and, straining somewhat, you slowly made your way back to your purse.

 

You could’ve left him here, retrieved your car and maybe some supplies, but this all seemed so weird and supernatural and you didn’t want to run the risk that whoever had done this to him coming back and trying to finish the job. So carrying him was how this was going to go. 

 

Once you reached your purse, to carefully squatted down, breathing out gently as you swung the purse over your free shoulder. Then you slowly rose yourself up and started the short trek back to your house. Sure, this guy was heavy, but it wasn’t that bad at first. But as you kept moving, each step felt like adding another pound to this weight thrown over your shoulder. 

 

Once you reached your door, your legs were slightly trembling, and you could feel a wet spot on your shoulder where you were sure he was bleeding through. You quickly retrieved your keys, almost wishing you unlocked your door first before you left, but it was whatever at this point. Not like you could rewind time or anything. You unlocked the door, turned the knob, and pushed it open. You decided the couch would be perfect for now, so you walked over, crouched down a little bit, and did your best to gentle throw him back over your shoulder onto his back on the couch. 

 

You let out a heavy sigh, your face hot from the exercise. Now to start working on him. You closed the front door, turned on some lights, and grabbed your first aid kit from your closet. You got to work on his clothes first. You needed to get them off you wanted to see what was damaged beneath. However, you had no clue how the hell you were supposed to get this darn thing off.  _ Is there a zipper? Maybe some buttons?  _ You sighed and began tugging on the material, searching for any seams. A small part of it lifted up, and putting your fingers between the material, you managed to find some small latches and tied knots. 

 

You worked quickly and within moments, you had the leather armor open to expose his chest. There were a couple large bruises, one on his ribs that seemed to wrap around his side. And there was the cut that was soaking through his clothing and yours. You reached out, feeling around the bruise to see if any of his ribs were broken. Thankfully, everything was good there as well. So you started to work on the cut. 

 

You reached into your bag, pulling out a set of  forceps so you could try and open up the wound a little to see how deep the cut really was. If he was lucky, and you as well, the job should be easy If the cut hit his intestines, hopefully you could cauterize the cut to stop any internal bleeding, get it sewn up, and then you could clean, stitch, and dress the superficial wound. 

 

You inserted the tip of the forceps, grabbing a small flashlight as you gently pried apart the wound. It was hot and sticky, clearly harboring some sort of disease, and oozing blood. You were relieved to find, however, once you peeked in that nothing appeared to be hurt. So you removed the forceps and placed them down on some clean gauze to keep your carpet clean before you reached for some of the cotton balls, disinfectant, and some antibiotic cream to apply. 

 

You looked up to see if the man had stirred any, but he was still passed out, seemingly unaware of anything that was going on right now, even though his face was in a sort of grimace. Well, if he didn’t wake up when you got this disinfectant in his wound, then he was probably going to be out for a while. So, pouring the disinfectant into the cap, you grabbed one of the cotton balls and dipped it in, letting it soak up the liquid while you got some gloves on so you could safely make contact with the wound. 

 

You grabbed another shorter pair of forceps to grab the cotton ball, bringing it over before you let it make contact with the wound. As it did, you saw the man’s body jerk violently in response. Your eyes looked upwards to see if he was still out or not. He was out. Or it seemed that way. His face hadn’t changed, and he wasn’t making any sort of response, so you went for it.

 

It took a couple minutes to clean up all the blood and completely disinfect the wound, but after you were all done it looked much better. Meanwhile, you had set up a little biohazard disposal bag next to you to throw away used cotton balls soaked with his blood. You did one more quick check to make sure there were no internal cuts before wiping away any new blood and getting out some sutures. 

 

You did your best to keep the stitches straight and neat, using a bit of gauze to gently wipe away any blood so you could continue to work.  _ God this is a huge cut.  _ With a couple minutes of careful stitching, it was done. Dressing the wound didn’t take long at all, and now finished, you did your best to pull him up into a sitting position before placing his torso across your shoulder. 

 

You lifted this stranger up before moving him again, stumbling slowly towards your bedroom. You could put him down on your bed and pull in one of your chairs and curl up in it to watch over him. But of course you also needed to clean up the mess you had in your living room, too. You groaned internally. At least you had a day off tomorrow so you could spend your time caring for him once he woke up. 

 

You did your best to lay him down gently on the bed, deciding to leave him on top of the covers before you left the room, feeling satisfied with your work. The clean up only took a couple of minutes to handle. You decided to just throw the tied biohazard bag away in the outside bin just to be as safe as you could be for being kind of lazy. Then you gathered all of your supplies back into your bag and walked back to your bedroom. 

 

He was still laying there, thankfully, and you walked past him to open up your closet, setting the bag of your medical supplies down before you turned around and- 

 

“Jesus christ! Dude, what the hell!?” This mystery man was standing before you now, his eyes wild and a rather fancy looking dagger held out towards you. You pressed yourself back into the closet a little bit, trying to think if you had anything you could grab to hit him.

 

“Where am I, mortal?” 

“M-my house?” You tilted your head a little bit, watching his eyes dart everywhere. He seemed to be extremely paranoid, and you did your best to remain calm.  _ Maybe he has an illness? _

 

“Clearly. Now tell me, how far are we from New York?” 

 

“New York? I- geez, that’s a good trip. Idk, maybe an 8 hour drive? Do you not know where you are right now?” He didn’t seem to like the accusation and his lips pulled up in a silent snarl. “Look, you’re injured and clearly you’re in shock so please, just lay back down, sir. Before you hurt yourself or agitate your wounds.” 

 

“Do not tell me what to do, mortal! Do you not know who I am? I will gut you like the worTHLESS FILTH YOU AR-” He proceeded to pass out, his eyes rolling up into the back of his head as the knife dropped from his hand, slumping forward as you caught him. Maybe this wasn’t really worth it. Either way, you were kind of glad that he passed out. His body had to be exhausted, so you just dragged him back to the bed and laid him down again. 

 

On second thought, though, you decided that sleeping in the living room might be a better idea than sleeping in here with him. You kind of felt like he was the kind of person who would probably murder you in your sleep.

 

Once he was all settled, you made your way back to the living room, shutting the door to the bedroom behind you. You were exhausted, and with the adrenaline of tonight already leaking away, you could feel your eyes drooping. So you set your house’s alarm, got a few blankets from the spare linen closet, and settled yourself onto your couch. You decided that you’d have to figure out just what had happened to this guy tomorrow. But for now, you needed sleep. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long! I try to update weekly but I got really sick, then had to get all caught up in my classes which was a bit stressful. But I'm all good now. Healthy, caught up, and back on track. Expect a weekly update! Maybe two if I'm feeling inspired.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who had given kudos/subscribed/bookmarked this story, by the way! It means a lot.

When you first woke up, you were confused. Your groggy thoughts revolved around the fact that you were on the couch, but as you slowly began to wake up, you remembered just what had happened last night. It was kind of bizarre, and your stomach turned when you remembered that your guest had tried to murder you last night before passing out. As you slowly got up, back and neck aching from sleeping on the couch, you wondered briefly if you had been so tired from work that you hallucinated all of it. Highly unlikely, but still. Better than facing the reality.

You got up, padding across the hardwood flooring in your home and walked around your couch, behind it towards your bedroom door. As you opened it, you did your best to remain quiet. Much to your relief, that guy from last night was still laying on your bed, passed out as he had been last night. You approached him, deciding that changing his bandages and cleaning him up a little more would probably be wise.

You got into your closet again, taking out your medical kit from last night, placing it on the bedside table as you looked over him. He looked peaceful sleeping there, and without the adrenaline from last night, you had time to really observe him. He had sharp features, which gave him a bit of a mischievous look. And he was extremely pale, like this poor guy had no idea what sunlight even was. His raven-colored hair was long and still spread out kind of haphazardly, all messy and tangled.

As you put on a pair of gloves and retrieved some more gauze, bandages, and some more disinfectant and antibiotic cream, you glanced towards his body. You hadn’t really taken the time last night to really notice how lean and muscular he looked. And other than the large bruise on his upper right quadrant, and the cut that rested in his left umbilical region, he was pretty much immaculate.

You shook yourself from your thoughts, bringing your supplies over to undress, clean, and redress the large gash. It looked a lot better than yesterday as you were cleaning it, and the bleeding had definitely stopped. You were glad. You had to remind yourself to find him some painkillers later to help him fight of the pain once he woke up. But until he did, you supposed that now was as good a time as any to get your shopping done for the week.

After all, he was still asleep and you might be able to sneak out to the store and get back before he even had a chance to wake up. Yes, that seemed best.

Everything cleaned up, you put away any of your extra supplies and wrapped up his old bandages into another little biohazard bag, sealing it tightly before you decided to get dressed. You were still dressed in your uniform from your shift last night, and there was a large bloodstain on your right shoulder from his wounds. Wouldn’t be wise to go out like that.

You reached into your dresser, finding a nice, violet, long-sleeved button up and paired it with some black slacks. You slipped into a pair of black flats before you made your way out of the bedroom towards your front door. You grabbed your purse, made sure you had the essentials inside: your keys, phone, and wallet, and made your way outside.

The drive to the store wasn’t too long, maybe five minutes before you were there and went inside. Most of your shopping was for food for the week, as well as a little more than usual for your guest, but you made sure to buy some extra medical supplies and some pills to help with pain, inflammation, and infection, just in case. The shopping experience was short, and soon enough you were waiting in line to check out.

The cashier and customer in front of you were talking, but you did your best to mind yourself as you began putting your stuff up onto the belt. That is until you heard “Did you hear what happened yesterday in New York?”

You were curious. You hadn’t watched the news since yesterday morning, and you remembered for a moment that the guy in your house had briefly mentioned New York before he had passed out.

“What happened in New York,” you chimed in. The lady who had mentioned it, looked at you as if she were surprised.

“You don’t know?”

“Well, no. I work at the hospital, so I don’t get much of a chance to watch the news while I’m working. And I was so tired last night that I just passed out as soon as I got home.”

“Well, there was an alien attack.”

“An alien attack?” You smirked a little bit, doubt crawling up into your tone. The cashier finished checking out all of the lady’s items, and she swiped her card, reaching out as she was handed her receipt. She turned back towards you as soon as she moved herself out of the way so you could be up near the cash register.

“Yeah! I promise, it’s not some sort of hoax or anything. There’s tons of videos online. There were even superheroes there!” She pulled out her phone, you assumed to pull up the videos, while you started grabbing your bags, putting them back into your cart. “Here, look.”

You leaned a little closer to her phone screen, watching as you saw some sort of crappy phone recording of large flying beast. It seemed terrifying, and then the phone flew up to a sort of flying vehicle, and perched on it was a guy in a-

Your face paled as you recognized the outfit. It was the same one the guy that was currently laying in your house was wearing.

“Who- who’s that? With the gold helmet with the horns?” The lady turned her phone towards her for a moment before she smiled.

“Well, I watched the news last night and apparently his name is Loki. He made some attack overseas or whatever. But he can use magic and stuff. And he claims to be a god, too!” The cashier listed your total, and you swiped your card now. You could hear your heart beating in your chest, hell, you could feel it too. You were harboring some sort of insane wizard who was claiming to be a god in your house? Who would’ve thought.

“I’ll definitely have to check out the news. Thanks for letting me know. But I gotta get back home, now. It was nice talking to you!” You did your best to be pleasant as the woman echoed her own kind farewell. Meanwhile, walking away, your thoughts were racing.

 _Should I call the police? Or would that be a bit ridiculous? Maybe they’d just laugh_. You left the store, packing away your groceries into your car as you kept thinking about this ‘Loki’ guy that was in your house. You didn’t know what you were supposed to do. And the whole trip back you seemed to grow more and more anxious.

Once you were home, you decided that you should just get all of your groceries in and go from there. You unlocked your house, popped open the trunk of your van, and grabbed your groceries, dragging them into your foyer before going back to grab the last few remaining items, shutting the trunk after you did.

You were running ideas through your mind how you were supposed to get him out of your house. Much less how you were going to do it safely without endangering yourself or your town in the process. Maybe you could drug him or something? Would drugs even affect him at all? You shut your front door behind you, placing down your second load with the other bags before you made your way towards your bedroom. Except something was different. Had you left the door open?

You approached the door slowly, gripping your keys in your fist so that the keys to your car and your house stuck out from between your fingers. Self defense 101. You made your way inside and was almost shocked to see some guy standing over Loki.

You let out a small surprised noise, and he turned towards you, almost just as shocked as you were. However, as soon as he began to move towards him, you lashed out your hand with the keys sticking out.

“Stay back! I mean it!” Your voice trembled, so you didn’t sound quite as confident as you were hoping. But the strange guy simply held up his hands in mock defeat.

“Please, calm down. I am not here to hurt you.” Your fist remained raised, heart pounding. Your door was unlocked when you got here. How did he?

“How did you get inside my house?”

“Oh, right. I may have broken into your back door. But I can replace that.”

“What the hell, dude. What are you even doing here? Are you here for him?” You pointed towards Loki’s sleeping form, taking a slow step backwards to put some space between you and the new stranger in your house.

“Yes, about that. May we talk? In your kitchen perhaps?” You felt a little confused. This guy had broken into your house, and now he was just offering to talk to you? You glanced over him, taking it all in.

He had long, blonde hair, partially pulled back and tied so that it wouldn’t hang in his eyes. And he was also dressed in some strange outfit. Little metal pieces covered his chest like chainmail, except it wasn’t really as loose as that. And he had some weird red cape on. Was he also like Loki? But his face was gentle and he had a small smile across his lips. What the hell, you’d take the chance.

“Fine, we can talk. But I will shank you if I have to.” You stepped back a little bit before you turned around, heading back to your foyer to grab some groceries. If you were going to your kitchen, you might as well put some stuff up while you’re at it.

Meanwhile, you could hear this blonde guy following behind you with the soft padding off his boots across your floor. But he kept his distance. Once you were in your kitchen, he took a seat at one of the barstools you had set up next to your kitchen’s island, watching you as you placed your shopping bags down on the counter.

“What would you like to know first?”

“Well, I want to know who you are. And why are you here?” You could hear him sigh a little bit as you began to pull out your groceries, sorting them into piles determined by where they were going to go in your kitchen.

“I am Thor, son of Odin, God of Thunder. And I’m here to check in on Loki. He’s my brother and I wanted to make sure he was safe.”

“Thor? And you’re a god? Surely you’re joking. I mean, there’s no way you’re real.” You turned towards him and you almost regretted what you said. Thor looked angry, his fist clenching, and his almost looked stormy, but he kept his cool otherwise.

“I can assure you I am. I am sitting here, after all.” You shook your head a little bit, but left it at that.

“So if you’re here for Loki, then that must mean you know what he did? And what kind of trouble he got himself into?” Thor seemed to nod a little bit, his smile turning into one that was a bit more of a grimace.

“Aye. If it is New York, you mean. I was one that actually fought him and that race he brought with him.” You nodded a little bit.

“Uh-huh. And what was that race anyway?”

“The Chitauri. They are a race of shape-shifters. Nasty creatures.” You just went along with it. Cool, sure. Aliens.

“Okay, that’s cool. So can I ask why Loki is here? Like, why is he here on Earth? Did he run out of power or get really hurt in New York and something?”

“Well father saw what Loki had done. So he is punishing him. For now, Loki is harmless. Father took away his magic and cast him to Midgard. And he is only here by pure chance. Our father just sort of threw him in a random direction. Far from New York, though.”

“Obviously. I mean, I’d try to kill the guy myself if I lived in New York.”

“Well yes, that is a concern. But I’m just trying to keep the rest of my team from finding and killing him. To give them time to cool off so I can convince them that Loki really isn’t that bad. He’s a trickster, but he’s rather harmless.” You couldn’t help but snort at that comment. Harmless? He had all but destroyed New York. “I can sense your doubts, but realize it wasn’t actually his power that did such harm.”

“Not his power? What do you mean?”

“Well he was given a special scepter and- I fear I’m only serving to confuse you more. Loki is deceptive, manipulative, but he’s no harm. Especially since he lacks the magic he was given on Asgard by our father. Just please, watch over him and make sure he stays out of trouble.”

“Fine, I’ll do my best, but what if he’s too much to manage? He tried to kill me last night.”

“Yes, I apologize for that. But, if you need any help, only call out my name and I’ll find you. I won’t let him murder you. Trust me.” You felt like this was all crazy, but you reluctantly agreed, nodding your head stiffly before you held out your hand.

“Alright, I’ll watch over him and make sure he stays out of trouble. So long as you keep him from trying to murder me.” Thor reached out his hand and grabbed your own. His grip was strong, and it felt like any more force might break your hand. But Thor shook your hand with pleasure and let out a hearty laugh, grinning before pulling you closer to clap you on your back. You felt your breath leave your body.

“Aye! Indeed. It’s a promise.” You nodded, too out of breath to really respond before he made his way out of your back door. You watched him grab the large hammer from his belt, watching as he began to spin it before throwing it. And when he threw it, he kept a hold of it, sort of flying off with it as well.

“What exactly am I getting involved with?” You sighed and spent the next few moments getting your groceries put away. You decided you might as well check on Loki too once you brought in some of the medical supplies you had bought.

Thankfully, he was still asleep. At least it’d give you time to adjust to the situation before things inevitably went to shit. You set the supplies on the bedside table. The bandages were still good, so there was no point to change any of them. You looked over him again, feeling a bit overwhelmed as the vision of him threatening your life came to mind. Maybe you should pat him down just to be sure he didn’t have any weapons on him.

You just did your best to search through his outfit, trying to find any hidden pockets, even checking his boots. It didn’t take too long to search over since you were pretty brief about it, but just a quick pat down left you with three new daggers laying on the bed. Might as well hide those so he can’t use them.

“This is gonna be difficult.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the long wait! The last bit of school, along with getting a new job, was pretty hectic. But now I've graduated, I have my own personal laptop, and I hope to return to updating regularly! Thank you for your patience.

It has been a couple minutes after your talk with Thor and after you had pulled some of Loki’s weapons off of him. You had decided to hide his weapons in your car in that little compartment in the trunk that you have to pull up to reveal. You only hoped that he wouldn’t find them, though you did feel rather confident about your choice. 

Since then, however, you had gotten yourself a nice cup of coffee and just continued to mull things over. You sipped slowly, allowing the warmth and caffeine of the drink to sort of warm you up and calm your nerves. Your eyes glanced briefly towards your groceries and you decided there’d be no harm in putting them away now. Then maybe you could get started on some breakfast for the day. 

While you couldn’t really say things were normal right now, you were going to try your best to make things feel as normal as possible. So, you downed the rest of your cup, put it into your sink, and began the process of putting things away properly. Meanwhile, you mulled over your breakfast options and tried to decide what you were in the mood for. You definitely wanted some sort of comfort food. Maybe something sweet? It took you a few moments, but after a bit you decided that french toast with a little bit of syrup to go with it might be good. 

So, you pulled out your skillet, mixed together milk, eggs, and cinnamon, and coated your bread before throwing it on the hot surface, listening to the slight sizzling as the wet mixture first hit the skillet. It didn’t really take too long to cook, and soon enough you had a few slices on a plate. You poured some syrup over the top of your french toast before picking it up to bring it to the table. 

When you turned around you caught sight of Loki standing there before you, grasping at his ribs as he leaned against the wall, glaring and panting at you. Quite honestly, seeing him there startled you. You hadn’t even heard him come in, and it caused you to fumble with your plate, just barely avoiding dropping it, as you looked at him. He seemed to crack a malicious smile, seemingly pleased with himself that he could unnerve you. Despite his current situation, that is. 

He let himself stand freely, pushing himself away from the wall before he started to move towards you. He did his best not to show his pain, but you could tell how he clenched his jaw that it was taking a lot of effort to hide it. 

“Alright, witch. I want you to tell me what you did to me.” His voice was strained to, but it didn’t take away from the menacingly cold edge of the way he spoke. You did your best to remain calm, thanking yourself for getting rid of his weapons, before placing the plate down on the table.

“I’m not a witch. You’re just hurt.” You began to open your mouth to speak again, to explain what is going on, with the whole punishment thing, but seeing the way he was hobbling towards you made you rethink it. He was clearly pissed off, and you didn’t feel like adding that to his list of “things to be pissed about.” Instead, you sort of kept moving away from him as he kept moving towards you, keeping the distance. 

“Nonsense. I heal faster than this. You’re obviously some form of sorceress who has blocked my ability to heal. Or perhaps you poisoned me?” His hand went to the table to brace himself as he nearly tripped. You would’ve laughed under different circumstances. “Either way, I intend to fix this. Even if I have to torture it out of you.” Your stomach began to grow uneasy as you heard that, but you did your best to handle him as if he was a distressed patient. 

“Look, just calm down a bit, okay? I know you’re confused and hurt right now. Please, just sit down or something. You can eat something and it might help clear your head.”

“I don’t need your pitiful food,” Loki snarled, his lips pulling up into a sneer. 

“Fine, then please just go sit down and calm down and I can explain this to you in a bit, alright? And we both know you’re in no shape to try and subdue me. So just save yourself the effort. You’re probably making your wound bleed, moving around so much.” Loki didn’t seem at all pleased with how you were talking to him. You could get that. Loki was a god after all, and he probably wasn’t used to being helpless. 

“Fine, but I have ways of making you speak, wench.” And with that, he hobbled back to your bedroom. You were relieved that he left, but the whole encounter had left you feeling anxious. Sweaty palms, uneasy stomach, and your heart was beating so hard in your chest that you could practically see your chest twitch with every beat. 

You let yourself stand there for a moment, taking the time to relax and see if Loki was going to come back into the kitchen. After a few moments, it was was clear he was probably just waiting in his room, so you sat down where you had placed your breakfast down, deciding you might as well eat and clean up as quick as you could so you could hopefully settle Loki’s temper towards you. After all, you weren’t the one who did this. You’re just the one cleaning up the mess, right? 

You set to eating, still mulling over what you were possibly goign to say, and, after practically inhaling your food, you brought your dirty dish towards your sink and began to clean up the mess you had made while making breakfast. It wasn’t too difficult, and within moments the counters were wiped off, dishes clean, and set out to dry before you could put them away. Even though it had only taken a few moments, you almost wish it lasted longer. Anything to put off the potentially dangerous conversation with Loki. 

When you finally arrived back into your bedroom, it was practically torn apart, and Loki was panting. His bandage was starting to seep through with his blood, most likely from him over exerting himself.

“What did you do?!” You exclaimed upon entering the room. Loki’s fierce gaze flashed towards you and he scowled again.

“I’m missing my daggers, wench.” He practically spat every word, and you sighed. You were thankful you had taken and hidden them, now.

“Well yes. I thought it best that you didn’t have any to attack me with. And look what you’ve done to your wound! I’ll have to clean it. And you better hope that none of your stitches tore apart in your little frenzy!” He seemed to be taken aback for a moment, clearly not used to being talked to in such a stern manner by a mortal. 

“I’d watch your tongue. Or maybe I’ll just have to cut it out myself.”

“With what daggers?” you proclaimed boldly. That is until you felt your heart begin to pound harder in your chest, your hands becoming colder and sweatier than just a moment ago. Here you were, talking back to a god. The nerve. Either way, it seemed to be enough to put him in his place since Loki didn’t press farther on the subject.

“Well fine. Now that you’re done eating, I demand that you tell me what’s going on.” Seeing him, obviously in pain, didn’t really give him much leverage against you, but you felt it’d be best to comply.

“Of course. Now please just sit down and let me tend to your wound. I’ll tell you what I know.” He seemed untrusting of you, but after a moment of silence, daggers being thrown your way with his stare, he settled down onto the edge of your bed. And with that, you grabbed your medical supplies, just focusing on first getting his bandages off first.

As you tossed them away and began cleaning the blood with an alcohol wipe, you began to explain to him what Thor had told you.

“Well, all I know is that Odin, your father from what I understand, took away your powers or suppressed them or something.” You threw the now red wipe away and grabbed some hydrogen peroxide and alcohol, dipping some cotton balls into them before dragging them gently across his wound. He hissed in pain, pulling away from you.

“What are you doing!? Trying to harm me further?” While you first thought he was just angry at you, looking up at his face showed that he was really just in distress. You smiled softly and shook your head.

“No, I’m just cleaning the germs from your wound. To keep it from being infected. I know it hurts, but it’s only temporary.” You glanced over his stitches now that there was no dried, or fresh, blood to cover them. Thankfully, he hadn’t torn any of them. And, tossing out the used cotton balls, you began to dress his gash again.

“So you said Odin did this, but why am I with you then?”

“I don’t really know. Just coincidence. Yo-” you were about to mention Thor checking in on him, but you thought better of it, instead cutting yourself and saying something different. “You were lucky I found you. After all, your wounds were pretty serious. A lot of bruising, too, so that’s why you might feel so sore and tender. I was thinking one of your ribs might be fractured or broken from the fall, but that wasn’t the case.” You finished up the bandages and stood up, putting away your supplies.

“I am sure I would’ve recovered.”

“So it is normal for a god to keep a wound this long? I’m sorry Loki, but I really do think that you’re temporarily stuck as a mortal. For how long, I don’t know. But until then, you have to take care of yourself. And no more trashing my house, okay?” He scoffed, and proceeded to ignore your question, gazing out the window just above your bed.

You decided he really wasn’t worth the effort and left him to his sulking. You were sure he would eventually break out of it. Like a child, his anger would fade away the hungrier he got in his little self-assigned timeout session. But until then, you decided you might as well continue on with your day. But before you could get away, he said one last thing.

“Know this, mortal. You will kneel at my feet once I recover. This won’t last long.” 

You shut the door.

You were sure he’d hold up to his promise, just going by the tone of his voice. But you couldn’t dwell on that. While you were sure it would’ve been better to ask Thor to take his brother away, you also couldn’t deny that you wanted to help him. There’s no way he’d make it with an injury like that. And for a moment, you hated your compassionate nature. After all, you were sure this was going to end up with you injured or, worse, dead. 

Other than your argument with Loki in the morning, most of your day was rather boring. You kept to yourself, leaving Loki to his own devices, as much as that might have worried you. But, thankfully, the most trouble he happened to get himself into was not knowing how to properly go to the bathroom. 

There was a lot of muttering and cursing in a language you couldn’t quite understand, but you assisted him to the best of your abilities, standing outside of the bathroom door while you could hear him struggling inside. Thankfully you didn’t have to deal with him needing to go number two. At least not yet. 

Other than that, you just did various chores, at some lunch when it was time, and barely heard a peep from the dark god in the other room. That is until dinner came around. You were cooking by yourself, making a small pan of chicken, baked in the oven, and some rice and asparagus to go with it. 

It all looked and smelled delicious, and just as you pulled the chicken out of the oven, you could see Loki out of the corner of your eyes. 

“Yes Loki?”

“I want to know what you’ve done to me. I feel like there are daggers in my stomach. Did you poison me, witch? How? I haven’t eaten any of your vial food all day.” He was demanded as always, and you did your best to keep your cool.

“You’re probably just hungry. You haven’t eaten all day and, surprise, people need food to survive. And I promise I have not, and will not, poison you. So just sit down and eat something.”

“How do I know you won’t have mine poisoned?”

“Would I really be so stupid to eat something I poisoned?” You scoffed and pulled out two plates, plating the food before bringing them over to the table where Loki was standing. He was wary, and seemed to curl his nose up in distaste, but you could hear his stomach growling at the scent of food. “Now come on, please eat something.”

You slid a plate towards him gently before you sat down at the table, beginning to eat. It took him a little while, but eventually Loki settled down and he began to cautiously eat. You couldn’t help but wonder about him. He acted a lot like a feral cat. Too afraid to become trapped, and too defiant to be helped in any way. But you were happy that he was at least eating now. Food would hopefully put him in a good mood. 

For a moment you smiled. Taming the god of mischief might not be so hard after all.


	4. Chapter 4

Another day, and another check at Loki’s wounds. He was sleeping soundly in your bed, even though it was already a little past 10 AM. While you were content letting him sleep and enjoying the peace and quiet, you really did need to check his bandages and check up on how his wounds are doing.

 

“Hey, wake up. I need to check and clean your cuts,” you called out to him softly, reaching over to shake his shoulder. You didn’t quite expect Loki to grab your wrist to yank you closer to him, his eyes flashing open as his other clamped around your neck. 

 

He looked wild for a moment, a mixture of fear and anger before he sort of realized what he was doing. Although that didn’t mean he stopped.

 

“You stupid mortal. You should know better than to sneak up on me while I’m sleeping. What? You were going to try to strangle me or something?” Loki sneered at you, his grip only growing on you. You could feel yourself getting dizzy before you reached out with your free hand, punching directly into where his bruise was on his side. That certainly gave him quite a shock. 

 

Loki cried out in pain and immediately let you go, reaching towards his side, scrunching his face up in pain.

 

“Of course I’m not trying to kill you! Jesus, I’m just trying to wake you up so I can make sure your cuts are okay and so I can change the bandages on them.” He looks at you warily for a moment before scoffing, sitting up a bit.

 

“Never wake me again. Or else next time you won’t survive the experience.”

 

“Well next time I’ll just throw something at you.” You rubbed gently at your neck, guessing that there’d probably be a red mark from his hands, but left it at that. “Now just lay down and let me check you over.” 

 

Loki complied, and you took to taking off his current bandages, checking everything over. It actually looked like the wound had managed to close up, and thankfully there was no blood on the bandages.

 

“Well, good news. I think you’re going to be okay without more bandages. I would like to say that you still heal a bit faster than most people. Even with stitches you should’ve had more bleeding and stuff for at least another two days or so.” You still took some disinfectant and cleaned around the wound, anyway. Just as a precaution, since you didn’t want it to get infected later on and cause even more pain. Although, thinking about what happened to you earlier, you supposed that also wouldn’t be too bad.

“Looks like the old man couldn’t make me completely mortal, now could he?”

“Well you still took longer to recover than you would’ve, right?” Loki glared at you with slitted eyes once more, and you sort of shrugged. “Look, I know you’re not happy about this. But at least you’re doing okay, right?”

 

“Please, I would be doing much better without this annoying spell hindering me.” Loki ran his fingers through his hair and gave you a little grimace. “What’s even more annoying is how quickly you mortals become filthy. Honestly, I don’t see how any of you can handle not being gods. So annoying.” He continued to complain, and you got up.

 

“Well I can admit that your hair looks greasy enough to fry an egg. I mean, you can take a bath if you’d like. You know where the bathroom is after all.” You proceeded to clean up your supplies, watching Loki out of the corner of your eyes.

 

“You mean to say that you want me to bathe myself? Clearly you’re joking.” 

 

“Not at all, Loki.” You looked towards him and found that he was scowling at you again. “What? Never had to do anything yourself, my highness?”

 

“Oh I have. I’ve done plenty without any help. But I refuse to take a bath without someone else bathing me.” You weighed the pros and cons of helping Loki bathe for a moment. To start off, you were going to have to help that smug, pampered man. On the other hand, at least this meant that you could get him out of his dirty clothes and even change the sheets on your bed which had, admittedly, become quite dirty with blood. 

 

You glanced towards Loki who still looked pissed off, like he was expecting you to submit to his wishes. Well, if you really think about it, this couldn’t be any worse than anything else you’ve done in the hospital before. 

 

“Fine, I’ll help you take a bath. In any case, at least that means we can get you into some clean clothes.” Loki smiled, pleased with himself, as he followed you to the bathroom. You began running some water for him, plugging the drain before you turned towards Loki. “Now, get undressed and hop in. I’ll be back, I’m just going to go throw my dirty sheets into the washer, alright?”

 

“Whatever, I’ll expect you back soon, so you better be quick.”

 

You left the bathroom, hearing him call those last few words out towards you, leaving him to undress while you began removing your sheets. They were definitely gross and smelled like a mixture of the metallic scent of blood and Loki’s own musk. You were glad they were going to be washed. 

 

You could still hear the sound of the bathtub filling up, and you did your best to hurry since some part of you knew that Loki was going to expect you to turn the tub off. So you dragged the sheets off, bundled them up, and brought them out into the hallway. You could deal with them later, so you set them down and went back into the bathroom where Loki was waiting for you.

 

Thankfully, the tub hadn’t overflown, and there was Loki sitting in the bath, waiting for you. As you walked in, he glanced over, scoffing.

 

“Took you long enough.” You gazed at Loki in the tub. Just like the first time you saw him, it kinda took you a moment to process just how muscular he was. Maybe not in a bodybuilder kind of way, but he was lean and obviously fit. 

 

“Sure, you’re washing your body, though.” You kneeled next to the tub, handing Loki a washrag and the soap before you reached for the shampoo, pouring a decent amount in your palm before you began to scrub it into Loki’s hair.

 

Loki began washing himself with the rag you gave him as you kept scrubbing. If anything, you could see just how much he visibly relaxed as you began washing his hair. Finally, something else that kept him calm. 

 

Loki quickly finished, which left you doing the rest of the work. Peeking towards him, you could see that his eyes were closed, and a hint of a relaxed smile played at his lips. Taking the time, you looked him over more carefully.

 

You didn’t take too much time to do it the first time you helped him, but you gazed across him as you kept washing. When he wasn’t scowling, he actually looked somewhat attractive. And once again you had to admire his body. There were some scars here and there, probably from fighting or something up in Asgard.

 

“Admiring me already are you?” You flinched at the sound of Loki’s voice, your cheeks flushing with the realization that you had been caught, more or less, admiring him. You looked back up at his face, flashing a small grin to match his smug face.

 

“Sorry, just looking at some of your scars.” Loki watched you for a moment, like he was expecting something, but after a moment he simply scowled and turned away. You wondered what he was expecting while you cupped some water in your hands, pouring it over Loki’s hair to wash out the shampoo. 

 

Remembering just how greasy Loki’s hair was before the bath, you decided it’d be best without any conditioner for now, so you stood up, stretching a little. 

 

“Alright, all done. You can get out now.”

 

“Fetch me a towel.” Loki looked up at you expectantly and you rolled your eyes. You reached over towards the towel rack and held it out for him while he stood up, stepping out of the tub before taking it from you. “I suppose I can’t convince you to dry me off, hmm?”

 

“No, you can do that yourself. I’ll go grab you something to wear, alright?”

 

“No need for your silly human clothing. I’ll simply wear what I was when I got here.” You scoffed a little at that, remembering his weird outfit. While it didn’t fit in, it was also damaged and dirty.

“Nope, you’re not getting back into that filthy thing. Look, we can go shopping for clothes so you can pick something out for yourself if you’d like. But what you were wearing is torn up and dirty.” You stepped out of the bathroom now, not caring to further the conversation while you headed to your closet. You had a box in here of clothing you kept from some of your old boyfriends. You didn’t realize this would ever come in handy.

 

Either way, you pulled out the box and rummaged around inside for a bit, pulling out a large pair of sweatpants and a simple t-shirt to match them. This would have to do for now. So you went back to the bathroom.

 

“Loki? I have something for you to wear now.” You figured he was out of the tub, so you just opened the door a crack, reaching in to place the clothing you got for him onto the counter of your sink. 

 

“You’re not going to dry me?”

 

“No, you’re an adult. You can dry yourself off.” You stood silent beside the door, listening intently. You could hear him stand up, water sloshing around, before you heard a bit more silence. You guessed he was doing like you told him. And a few minutes later, you were proven right.

 

When Loki stepped out of the bathroom, he didn’t look too happy. The clothes you gave him were obviously too small, seeing how the sweatpants didn’t exactly reach his ankles and the shirt barely reached down to the hem of his pants. You couldn’t help but laugh. 

 

Loki threw you a glare, scowling. He was obviously displeased that you were finding enjoyment in his personal misery. 

 

“Perhaps it’d just be better if I wore my old clothes.” He began to move past you, and you caught his arm with your hand before he could stalk off to go fester in some corner.

 

“Oh c’mon Loki. It’s not bad, alright? We just need to get you some new clothes. We can go shopping. Just let me get ready, alright?” He glares down at you, yanking his arm from your grip before scoffing.

 

“Fine, we may go shopping. I expect you to be ready soon. And never grab me like that again.” His tone was cold, and you just settled for smiling a little at him before backing off to give him some space.

 

“Of course. We’ll leave here in about five minutes.”

 

~*~*~*~

 

One long shopping trip later, and you were back home sitting on the couch watching some television. Loki had almost thrown a fit in the store, rejecting most of the clothing you offered him. It eventually got to the point that you just started to grab clothing, enough to last him roughly a week, before leaving the store with him. Now he was getting changed.

 

It didn’t take long for him to do that either, and soon enough you heard the lock to your room click as Loki stepped out, looking more comfortable than earlier. He had thrown on a loose dark green t-shirt and a pair of khaki shorts. He looked, well how were you supposed to put it? Domestic. And without all the hair gel and stuff in his hair, now that it had dried it was kinda fluffy. 

 

“You look good Loki!” you encouraged him. He scowled at you which reminded you of who exactly you were dealing with here.

 

“I looked fine before I put this ridiculous outfit on. I prefer my clothing more. The leather, elegant designs, and a decent color scheme.” He approached the couch and took a seat, albeit at the opposite end.

 

“Yes, but you know that’s not how mortals look. And you really should try not to draw attention, you know?” He looked at you, eyes narrowed before he scoffed, seemingly surrendering.

 

“I suppose you’re right. But don’t expect me to keep dressing like this for very long. I promise you, I’ll find a way out of this.”

 

“Loki, look, do you really think it’d be a good idea to piss off Odin even more? If anything I’m sure we could try to contact someone like Thor to try and bring some stuff to you from Asgard. Just nothing dangerous.” He rolled his eyes but remained quiet. He was done talking for now, and he took to watching the show you had on. 

 

Although at first he seemed more dangerous, he seemed to be settling. You weren’t sure if it was because he knew he was powerless in this situation, or if he was too proud to risk putting his powers at risk for being gone even longer. 

 

You gazed over towards him out of the corner of your eyes, seeing just how entranced he was with the show, his usually cold, stern expression seemingly melting away into a softer one. You smiled, seeing just how much better he looked, too. Now all you had to get him to do was behave while you went to work this week. But you could handle that problem once you got there.

**Author's Note:**

> Help support me and buy me a Coffee!
> 
> https://ko-fi.com/foxynite


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